Abstract: The Dr. Richard A. Simms collection
comprises 654 works on paper of which 530 are prints and working proofs and 124 are
drawings. Assembled over a period of forty years, the core of the collection consists of 239
etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs and 47 drawings by Käthe Kollwitz; a total of 286 works
by Kollwitz. Also included are prints and drawings by other significant artists in
Kollwitz's orbit, including Ernst Barlach, George Grosz, Lovis Corinth, Max Klinger, Ludwig
Meidner, Emil Nolde, Otto Greiner, among others.

Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
catalog
record
for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .

Language: Collection material is in German

Biographical / Historical Note: Dr. Richard A. Simms

Dr. Richard A. Simms is a renowned California-based art collector of prints and drawings by
Käthe Kollwitz and other 19th and 20th-century German artists. The online art newspaper
ArtDaily reported in 2010: "Dr. Richard A. Simms is an
internationally recognized collector of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German
prints and drawings. At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, he was chair of the Prints and
Drawings Council and then a member of the Board of Trustees for twelve years. He now serves
as the inaugural chair of the Collections Council of the Getty Research Institute." Dr.
Simms acquired his art collection in Europe and the United States between 1973 and 2014,
focusing predominantly on individual prints and drawings as well as portfolios of prints and
books illustrated with original graphics by German artists from the mid-19th century until
the end of World War II. His collecting interests extended also to French artists from the
18th and 19th centuries; the Belgian artist James Ensor; and at the beginning of his
collecting, early graphic works by Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya, and Callot. Over the years,
prints and drawings by Käthe Kollwitz became Dr. Simms's principal passion, which he
followed not only through intense study and acquisition of the often multiple states and
impressions of her works, but also by building a comprehensive private library of
publications about Kollwitz and other artists of her time. A decisive moment in the building
of the Kollwitz collection came in 1978 with an acquisition from the artist's estate, which
had been inherited by her grandchildren. At once, Dr. Simms acquired 121 prints, including
many Kollwitz herself advised her family not to sell because of their rarity. This
acquisition included early and unique impressions from her print series
Ein Weberaufstand (
Weaver's
Revolt
),
Bauernkrieg (
Peasants' War),
Krieg (
War), and
Tod (
Death); individual sheets such as self-portraits; and preparatory impressions for
edition prints. From the same source, Dr. Simms also acquired a large drawing related to the
monumental print
Gedenkblatt für Karl Liebknecht (
In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht). In the 1980s, Dr. Simms continued to
acquire important prints and significant drawings by Kollwitz at auction, such as the early
study for Kollwitz's narrative print
Szene aus Germinal
(
Scene from Germinal) (1893). In the 1990s and 2000s, Dr.
Simms continued to build the collection by adding rare proofs and state impressions,
including rare working proofs for the series
Peasants' War.
In 1992, about fifteen years after he began collecting Kollwitz, expert in German
Expressionist art, Hildegard Bachert pointed out, that Dr. Simms is "undoubtedly the most
important Kollwitz collector in America today" and a collector who has a "… wide-ranging
feeling for humanistically oriented graphic art." The quotation comes from the catalogue for
the first survey exhibition devoted to Kollwitz in the United States. It was organized by
the National Gallery of Art, which drew upon its own collection and works borrowed from more
than twenty private collectors and museums in United States and Europe, including Dr. Simms.
With over a hundred works on paper, the National Gallery of Art exhibition had a profound
effect on Dr. Simms as it inspired him to explore Kollwitz's working process by seeking to
acquire multiple states, and printing and working proofs of her works in order to provide
comparative material that can enable scholars to explore how Kollwitz creates and changes
the meaning of her artistic vision through the technical processes of printmaking.

Dr. Richard A. Simms also sought to acquire prints and drawings by other German artists
from Kollwitz's time and artistic orbit, such as Max Klinger, Emil Nolde, Otto Greiner,
Ludwig Meidner, and George Grosz; building a comprehensive and important resource for the
study of German art from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.

The above note is informed by the following sources:

Curatorial notes by Louis Marchesano, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Getty Research
Institute.

Käthe Kollwitz was born on July 8, 1867 in Königsberg, Prussia, the fifth child of Karl and
Katherina Schmidt. Her father was a Social Democrat with strong socialist opinions opposing
Otto von Bismarck's authoritarian government. Her mother was the daughter of Julius Rupp, a
Lutheran pastor who founded a congregation independent from state or church control, that
advocated freedom of conscience for its members. Kollwitz's upbringing was influenced by her
family's liberal political, social, and religious views. Encouraged by her father, Kollwitz
began taking lessons in drawing as a teenager in Königsberg. In 1886, she enrolled in a
private art school for women in Berlin, where she took lessons from Karl Stauffer-Bern, who
introduced her to the etchings of Max Klinger. In 1888, at the age of twenty-one, she became
engaged to Karl Kollwitz, a medical student in Königsberg and a member of the Social
Democrats. Despite her engagement, between 1888 and 1890 Kollwitz lived alone in Munich and
studied at the Damenakademie München, an art school for women, as in Germany art academies
did not accept female students until after World War I. In Munich she witnessed the
breakthrough of naturalistic painting en plein air and took an interest in literature and
issues related to womens' rights. She produced drawings and prints inspired by Émil Zola's
novel
Germinal. In 1891, Karl and Käthe married and settled
in a working class neighborhood in Berlin, where Karl opened a medical practice as one of
the first physicians implementing a new social and medical insurance for workers, which was
the first European system of health insurance, raised from mandatory fees shared by the
workers, the employers, and the state. They had two sons, Hans, born in 1892; and Peter,
born in 1896. In her artistic work Kollwitz focused initially on drawing and graphics. She
engaged in exploring various printing techniques, including etching, drypoint, aquatint,
soft ground, woodcut and lithography; often experimenting by mixing various techniques and
using unconventional tools, such as sand paper or needle bundles. In later years, she also
turned to sculpture, while still producing graphic works. Inspired by Gerhard Hauptmann's
naturalistic drama
Die Weber (
The
Weavers
) based on the revolt of Silesian weavers in 1844 and first performed in
Berlin in 1893, Kollwitz produced a series of etchings and lithographs based on the weavers
theme. The series was exhibited publicly in 1898 to wide acclaim, but when Adolf Menzel
nominated her work for the gold medal at the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung in Berlin,
Kaiser Wilhelm II withheld his approval.

An illustrated edition of Wilhelm Zimmermann's
Allgemeine
Geschichte des grossen Bauernkrieges
(
General History of
the Great Peasants' War
), written between 1841 and 1843, is believed to be the
source of Kollwitz's second major series of prints, the
Bauernkrieg (
Peasants' War). From 1901 to 1908
Kollwitz produced many preliminary drawings and discarded impressions in etching, aquatint,
and soft ground for it, while relentlessly perfecting her technical skills and artistic
expression. Completed in 1908, the series was printed for mass circulation by the publishing
house Kunstsalon Emil Richter in Dresden.

In 1903, she produced in several states the etching
Frau mit totem
Kind
(
Woman with Dead Child), whose harrowing
subject, together with the sculptural quality of her treatment of the motif, marked the most
innovative time in her career as a graphic artist.

While working on the
Peasants' War, Kollwitz visited Paris
twice. In 1901 she met Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen and admired his color etchings; the art
dealer and collector Otto Ackermann introduced her to the art galleries in Paris, and
Kollwitz acquired a pastel by Picasso. During a study trip to Paris in 1904, she enrolled in
sculpting classes at the Académie Julian and visited the studio of August Rodin. Between
1901 and 1904 most of her graphic works were in color.

In November 1901, as a member of the Berliner Secession, she showed her color combination
print
Frau mit Orange (
Woman with
Orange
), produced in various intaglio techniques and in lithography, and the
journal
Kunst für Alle praised her technical innovations.

In 1907, her etching
Losbruch (
Outbreak), produced between 1902 and 1903, was awarded the Villa Romana Prize –
founded by Max Klinger – giving her the opportunity for an extended stay in a studio in
Florence. She embarked on a hiking tour from Florence to Rome.

From 1908 to 1910, Kollwitz worked as a freelancer for the satirical magazine
Simplicissimus. In 1912, she was elected to the board of the
Berliner Secession and, after the split in the Berliner Secession in 1913, she became member
of the board of the Freie Secession and co-founder and chairwoman of the Frauenkunstverband
(Association of Female Artists). The early 1910s also marked the beginning of her sculptural
work.

In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I, Kollwitz lost her son Peter in a battle in
Belgium in the first days of the war. Grieving, Kollwitz began to make drawings for a
monument to her son and his fallen comrades. The sculpture
Die
trauernden Eltern
(
The Greaving Parents) was
completed in 1932 and placed in a war cemetery in Belgium.

From the early 1910s onward Kollwitz's work increasingly reflected social and political
commitment. Her works focused on themes of social injustice and the hardships of the living
conditions of the poor working class in pre- and post-WWI Germany, predominantly among women
and children. The themes of her works are poverty, hunger, motherhood, illness, death, and
bereavement. Between 1918 and 1922, at the time of enormous economic depression in Germany,
she produced a series of woodcuts called
Krieg (
War) in response to the tragedies endured by those left behind –
mothers, widows, and children. After the assassination of the German radical and communist
revolutionary Karl Liebknecht in 1919, Kollwitz produced etchings and lithographs about
Liebknecht's death, focusing on the theme of mourning. She produced several
commercially-distributed socially and politically engaged posters, including the poster
Helft Russland (
Help
Russia
), from 1921, a contribution to overcoming the catastrophic drought in the
Volga area.

Throughout her career, Kollwitz made numerous self-portraits, from a vibrant young woman
in Munich until her portrait in profile at old age, from 1938.

As a living artist Kollwitz gained remarkable recognition. In 1917, on her 50th birthday,
numerous exhibitions were staged in Germany, with the Berlin Print Room showing the entire
collection of her graphic works. The Paul Cassirer Gallery in Berlin exhibited a large
number of drawings, and the show travelled to Königsberg, Dresden, Hamburg, and Mannheim. In
1920, Kollwitz became the first woman elected to the prestigious Prussian Academy of Art.
She participated in print exhibitions of the academy until 1934. At her own request, she
didn't start teaching until 1928.

Under National Socialism Kollwitz was not declared "degenerate," but she was removed from
her post at the academy and banned from exhibiting. Her works were confiscated from public
collections. The art dealers entrusted with sales of her works were Bernard A. Böhmer, Karl
Buchholz, and Hildebrandt Gurlitt. She continued to draw and produce prints, and made
several small-scale sculptures, and managed to show a selection of her works in her studio
in the Klostergasse, in Berlin. Between 1934 and 1937 she completed her last series
Tod (
Death), an eight-piece work on
the theme of death. In 1934, an interview with Kollwitz was published in a Russian newspaper
in Moscow. The Gestapo threatened her with deportation in the case of a recurrence.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Kollwitz' fame continued to grow. The Art Museum in
Worcester, Massachusetts, organized a Kollwitz exhibition in 1933. In 1934, Harvard
University presented prints by the artist. There was a show at the Hudson Gallery in New
York in 1937. The College Art Association organized touring exhibitions of Kollwitz's work
in 1934-1935. Zeitlins Bookshop and Gallery in Los Angeles and the Fine Arts Gallery in San
Diego staged exhibitions in 1937, followed by shows in the early 1940s organized by the
American Federation of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
In short, the United States become a major market for her works. The American collector
Lessing J. Rosenwald acquired 115 prints and 27 drawings by Kollwitz, and later donated the
entire collection to the National Gallery in Washington.

Karl Kollwitz died on 19 July 1940. In 1941, Kollwitz produced in limited edition the
print
Saatfrüchte sollen nicht vermahlen werden (
Seeds for Sowing Should Not Be Milled), considered her legacy. Her
eldest grandson Peter died in war in Russia in 1942. In 1943, Kollwitz's studio in Berlin
was bombed and many drawings, prints and documents were destroyed. In 1944 she evacuated to
Moritzburg near Dresden. Just weeks before the war ends, Käthe Kollwitz died on April 22,
1945.

Throughout her career, Kollwitz graphic works were widely published. The two series
The Weavers and
Peasants' War
established her reputation as an artist of considerable artistry and technical competence.
The publisher Verlag Emil Richter in Dresden gained exclusive publication rights, and from
1910 to 1930 extensively published and distributed her complete graphic works. Max Lehrs,
director of the Dresden Print Room, both acquired her work for the collection and published
the first catalog of her prints in 1902, which Johannes Sievers augmented in 1913. In 1927,
the Richter publishing house issued an incomplete list of her prints made from 1913 to 1927,
compiled by A. Wagner. In the early 1930s, the Swiss art historian and art dealer, August
Klipstein, began to write a new comprehensive catalogue raisonné of Kollwitz's prints in
consultation with the publisher and collector Alexander von der Becke, who after the
bankruptcy of Emil Richter in 1931 became Kollwitz's publisher. Klipstein died in 1951,
before completing his work, but in 1955 the catalogue raisonné was published by Klipstein's
successor, E. W. Kornfeld, with the assistance of Klipstein's widow, Frieda Klipstein, and
the collector Helmut Goedeckemeyer. In 2002, the German art historian Alexandra von dem
Knesebeck published her two-volume comprehensive catalogue raisonné of graphics by Kollwitz.
The German painter and communist activist, Otto Nagel, compiled the first comprehensive
catalogue raisonné of Kollwitz's drawings. After Nagel's death in 1967, his work was
continued by the art historian Werner Timm, in collaborative effort with Nagel's daughter,
Sibylle Schallenberg-Nagel, and Kollwitz's son, Hans Kollwitz. The catalogue raisonné of
Kollwitz's drawings was first published in 1972 by the Galerie St. Etienne in New York.

After the war, Kollwitz's work received very different receptions on both sides of the
Berlin Wall and outside of Germany. Today, her works continue to spark debates among artists
and art critics. The award-winning German art critic, Kito Nedo, summarized the postwar
reception of Kollwitz in an essay posted at
artnet News
website in 2017. In Nedo's words, "... in East Germany, the artist [Kollwitz] … was
venerated as a national hero and thus used for political ends-undeterred by regular
references in the West to her diaries, in which she argues for the political independence of
art." By the mid-1950s, the Western art world largely lost interest in Kollwitz. In 1981,
the American art theorist, Lucy Lippard, argued that this lack of interest resulted from the
postwar notion of the artist as a "lofty genius" or an "outsider" while Kollwitz's socially
and politically engaged themes focused on matters of real life. In 1967, the critic
Gottfried Sello wrote in the West-German weekly
Die Zeit that
"… in spite of her progressive ideas, Kollwitz is an arch-conservative artist" (cited by
Nedo). According to Nedo, the contemporary historiography and reception of Kollwitz prefers
a less-politicized view. This trend can be observed in the recent biography of Kollwitz by
Yvonne Schymura, who views the artist as "free of political and personal engagements" (cited
by Nedo). Exhibitions in Germany held in 2017 on the artist's 150th birth anniversary
focused on self-portraits (Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne) and on her circle of friends
(Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin); another exhibition in Berlin at Galerie Parterre explored
her links to the city of Berlin. In the United States, the Metropolitan Museum curator,
Jennifer Farrell, included Kollwitz's work in the exhibition
World
War I and the Visual Arts
as representative of the historical period. The British
Museum in London and the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham focused on Kollwitz's creativity in the
exhibition
Portrait of the Artist: Käthe Kollwitz.
Contemporary German artists, such as Katharina Sieverding or Martin Kippenberger, have made
references to the notions of empathy in Kollwitz's works. For the New York City-based
feminist artists' group, Guerrilla Girls, Kollwitz is an inspiring role model. Finally, in
his essay, Nedo argued that the world has "never really forgotten" about Kollwitz and her
continued presence should be attributed to the universal humanist visual language that
characterizes her work.

The above note is informed by the following sources:

Undated manuscript of Kollwitz biography compiled by the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Cologne,
held at the Getty Research Institute.

Dr. Richard A. Simms collection of prints and drawings by Käthe Kollwitz and other artists,
between 1888 and 1941, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no.
2016.PR.34

Acquisition Information

Partial Gift of Dr. Richard A. Simms.

The drawing
The People [
Das
Volk
] by Käthe Kollwitz (Nagel/Timm 977) and her drawing
Girl with a Child in Her Arm [
Mädchen mit Kind auf dem
Arm
] (Nagel/Timm 700) are the gift of Dr. Richard A. Simms in honor of Hildegard
Bachert. The print
Praying Young Woman [
Betendes Mädchen] by Käthe Kollwitz (Knesebeck 14.Ib) is the gift
of Dr. Richard A. Simms in honor of Elizabeth Perlinger. The watercolor
Self-Portrait in Barcelona by Walter Gramatté is a gift of Dr.
Richard A. Simms and was received as an addition to the collection. The drawings
Street at Night II and
Self-Portrait with
Tongue Sticking Out
by Ludwig Meidner are a gift of Dr. Richard A. Simms and were
received as an addition to the collection. The watercolor
Blooming
Cactuses
by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff is a gift of Dr. Richard A. Simms in honor of
Louis Marchesano and was received as an addition to the collection.

Currently, only Series I is processed. Series II will be available when cataloging is
completed.

Scope and Content of Collection

Assembled over a period of forty years, the collection comprises 654 works on papers,
including 530 prints and 124 drawings by Käthe Kollwitz and other artists in her artistic
orbit, such as Max Klinger, Ernst Barlach, Lovis Corinth, George Grosz, Ludwig Meidner, Emil
Nolde, Otto Greiner, among others.

Series I. consists of prints and drawings by Käthe Kollwitz acquired by Dr. Simms in
Europe and the United States between 1973 and 2014. Present are 239 graphic works in
intaglio, woodcut and lithography; and forty-seven drawings; a total of 286 works.

Dating from 1891 to 1941, the prints represent the entire spectrum of Kollwitz's graphic
work. As several proof impressions and states of a print are frequently present, the
collection provides a unique opportunity to explore the progression of Kollwitz's artistic
vision from state to state through the analysis of her often innovative and experimental
application of printing tools and techniques, and testifies to the collector's particular
interest in Kollwitz's workshop and her understanding of the printing process.

The drawings by Käthe Kollwitz date from 1888 to 1928, with the bulk dating from the late
1890s and the early 1900s and from 1919 and the early 1920s. Numerous drawings are
preparatory studies for prints, which are present in the collection. Also present are four
portfolios of prints by Kollwitz, including the so-called Richter Mappe from 1920; numerous
postwar exhibition posters, including several from California; vintage portrait photographs
of Kollwitz; and letters sent by Kollwitz.

Series II. consists of prints, drawings, and portfolios of prints by artists from the
artistic orbit of Kollwitz; postwar exhibition posters; some artists' correspondence, and
manuscripts.

Currently, only series I is processed. Series II will be available when cataloging is
completed.

Arrangement

Organized in two series: Series I. Käthe Kollwitz, 1888-1941; Series II. Other artists.

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Names

Kollwitz, Käthe, 1867-1945

Liebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich,
1871-1919

Subjects - Topics

Art, German -- 20th century

Art, German--19th century

Genres and Forms of Material

Lithographs -- Germany -- 20th century

Drawings (visual works) -- Germany -- 20th century

Etchings (prints) -- Germany -- 20th century

Prints (visual works) -- Germany -- 20th century

Drawings (visual works) -- Germany -- 19th century

Lithographs -- Germany -- 19th century

Etchings (prints) -- Germany -- 19th century

Prints (visual works) -- Germany -- 19th century

Pen and ink drawings -- Germany -- 19th century

Charcoal drawings -- Germany -- 19th century

Drypoints (prints) -- Germany -- 19th century

Drypoints (prints) -- Germany -- 20th century

Aquatints (prints) -- Germany -- 19th century

Aquatints (prints) -- Germany -- 20th century

Soft-ground etchings (visual works) -- Germany -- 20th
century

Woodcuts (prints) -- Germany -- 20th century

Photolithographs -- Germany -- 20th century

Charcoal drawings -- Germany -- 20th century

Pastels (visual works) -- Germany -- 20th century

Pencil drawings -- Germany -- 20th century

Chalk drawings -- Germany -- 20th century

Gouaches (paintings) -- Germany -- 20th century

Pen and ink drawings -- Germany -- 20th century

Soft-ground etchings (visual works) -- Germany -- 19th
century

Transfer lithographs -- Germany -- 20th century

Contributors

Simms, Richard A., Dr.

Kollwitz, Käthe, 1867-1945

Becke, Alexander von der, 1902-1959

Felsing, Otto, 1854-

Felsing, Wilhelm

Richter, Emil

H. Meysel Nachfol.

Container List

Series I. consists of prints and drawings by Käthe Kollwitz assembled by Dr. Simms in
Europe and the United States between 1973 and 2014. Included are 239 graphic works in
intaglio, woodcut and lithography; and forty-seven drawings; a total of 286 artworks.

Dating from 1891 to 1941, the prints represent the entire spectrum of Kollwitz's
graphic work. As several proof impressions and states of a print are frequently present,
the collection provides a unique opportunity to explore the progression of Kollwitz's
artistic vision from state to state through analysis of her often innovative and
experimental application of printing tools and techniques, and testifies to the
collector's particular interest in Kollwitz's artistic workshop and her understanding of
the printing process.

The drawings date from 1888 to 1928, with the bulk dating from the late 1890s and the
early 1900s and from 1919 and the early 1920s. Numerous drawings are preparatory studies
for prints, which are present in the collection. Several drawings are not mentioned in
the catalogue raisonné by Otto Nagel and Werner Timm. In addition, there are four
published portfolios with edition prints by Kollwitz; modern exhibition posters and
other illustrated matter related to Kollwitz, including four vintage portrait
photographs of Kollwitz; and thirty letters and postcards sent by the artist between
1898 and 1943.

Arrangement

Arranged into five subseries: Series I.A. Prints, Series I.B. Drawings, Series I.C.
Portfolios of prints, Series I.D. Posters and other illustrated matter, Series I.E.
Letters sent.

Series I.A.
Prints,1891-1941

Physical Description:
67.5 Linear
Feet
(18 oversize boxes)

Scope and Content Note

Dating from 1891 to 1941, the prints from the collection of Dr. Simms represent the
entire spectrum of Kollwitz's graphic work in intaglio, woodcut, and lithography.
Present are 239 prints, including sheets printed on both sides (KN 151.I and KN
165.I).

The intaglio prints are executed predominantly in line or brush etching, drypoint,
lift-ground or reservage, and soft ground; often with addition of aquatint; and the
evidence of inclusion of experimental tools, such as sandpaper, burnisher, or needle
bundle. Most lithographs are crayon transfer lithographs of drawings. Frequently
present are several proof impressions and states of a print, which allows one to
explore the progression of Kollwitz's artistic vision from state to state through the
analysis of her often innovative and experimental application of printing tools, a
"hands-on" treatment of the copper plate and the woodblock, or the choice of various,
and often unusual printing and transfer papers. Additions by hand in charcoal,
pigment, or ink also mark the artistic progression from state to state. An example of
Kollwitz's experimental approach to printing is the combination print from two
variously colored copperplates
Woman with Orange
(
Frau mit Orange) from 1901. The woodcut
Woman in the Lap of Death (
Tod mit
Frau im Schoss
), from 1920-1921, is represented in the collection with a
rejected first version and six various states of the third final version.

Among Kollwitz's early prints are female and male figures, scenes from the life of
the working class, self-portraits, and a scene inspired by Émil Zola's novel
Germinal.

Present are all six sheets from the series
A Weavers'
Revolt
(
Ein Weberaufstand), seminal for
Kollwitz's artistic career, as well as all seven sheets from the equally important
series
Peasant's War (
Bauernkrieg). Both series are represented with several states of each sheet
and with rejected versions of sheets not included in the final series. The series
War (
Krieg), from 1922
and 1923, executed in woodcut, is represented with rejected versions of sheet 3
The Parents (
Die Eltern) and
sheet 7
The People (
Das
Volk
), and with two various states of the final version of sheet 7. The
series
Proletariat from 1924 and 1925 is represented
with a rejected version and two states of the final version of sheet 1
Unemployed (
Erwerbslos), and
with four various states of the final version of sheet 2
Hunger.

Kollwitz's famous image
Woman with Dead Child
(
Frau mit totem Kind), from 1903, which marks the
most innovative time in her career as an graphic artist, is represented with an early
and a late state of the print as well as with the drawing from the same year. Another
well-known image by Kollwitz is the etching
Death, Woman, and
Child
(
Tod, Frau und Kind) from 1910, of
which three various states are included in the collection. Also present are various
states for the rejected first and second versions, and the third final version of the
woodcut commemorating the death of the German communist Karl Liebknecht, from 1919 and
1920; as well as three preparatory drawings from 1919.

In her later etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs Kollwitz continued to address
hardships in the living conditions of the working class and the impact of war,
especially in the lives of mothers and children, in post-World War I Germany. The
collection includes several prints with the themes death, motherhood, and child
mortality. Several prints document Kollwitz's political engagement, such as an early
proof impression from the original stone for the poster
Help
Russia
(
Hilft Russland), from 1921, which she
produced for the German communist group Komite Arbeiterhilfe in Berlin, in order to
raise awareness of famine in post-revolutionary Russia.

Also included with the prints are approximately seventeen self-portraits by
Kollwitz, from an early work from 1893 showing her seated at a table, to her last
self-portrait in profile, at old age, from 1938. The crayon lithograph
Call of Death (
Ruf des
Todes
), presumably from 1937, depicts a female figure resembling the artist.

With the Simms collection the Getty Research Institute also acquired the artist's
last graphic work, the rare crayon transfer lithograph
Seed for
Sowing Should Not Be Milled
(
Saatfrüchte sollen nicht
vermahlen werden
), which Kollwitz produced in 1941 in a limited edition of
approximately eleven copies. Produced at the time of war waged by Nazi Germany, this
print expresses Kollwitz's deep antiwar sentiment and is considered her legacy.

In the catalog records for the prints, the English and German titles follow the
catalogue raisonné
Käthe Kollwitz Werkverzeichnis der
Graphik
by Alexandra von dem Knesebeck. The printing techniques are also
largely based on information provided by Knesebeck; however, the techniques applying
to the specific proof impression or state at hand may vary and are subject to further
research.

Arrangement

The prints are listed numerically and chronologically in the order of the catalogue
raisonné
Käthe Kollwitz Werkverzeichnis der Graphik by
Alexandra von dem Knesebeck. Knesebeck numbers are listed together with the
corresponding numbers from the catalogue raisonné by August Klipstein. The
photolithograph poster
Homecoming [
Die Heimkehr], which is not included in the catalogues
raisonné by Knesebeck and Klipstein is listed at the end.

Technique: crayon lithograph (transfer of a lost drawing on sized grain paper) in
black ink on white paper. Dimensions: sheet 32.1 x 25.3 cm. Signatures: signed by
Käthe Kollwitz in pencil in lower left. State: Knesebeck state I, before the
composition is reduced, framed by a continuous line along the right and at bottom of
the composition; states not in Klipstein. Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms
collection, Los Angeles. Verso: two collector's wet stamps "Coll. Dr. Richard A.
Simms" within banner; inscribed in pencil Klipst. 82; and two other markings in
pencil. Lugt: 4395.

Technique: crayon lithograph (transfer of a lost drawing on sized grain paper) in
black ink on thick brown paper. Dimensions: image 30.1 x 24.2 cm, sheet 47 x 26.3
cm. Signatures: signed by Käthe Kollwitz in pencil in lower right. State: Knesebeck
state IIIBa, with the continuous line at right and at the bottom of the composition
removed and with the lower left corner of the composition, which previously revealed
the tone of the paper, lightly toned; states not in Klipstein. Provenance: Dr.
Richard A. Simms collection, Los Angeles; Collection of Ludwig von Erl. Recto:
inscribed in pencil along the lower margin of sheet ""Frauenkopf" drei Abzüge"; in
the lower right corner of sheet inscribed "Collection of Ludwig v. Erl"; and a
marking in pencil. Verso: collector's wet stamp "RSA" within circle; marking in
pencil. Lugt: 4396.

Technique: line etching, sandpaper, lift-ground (reservage), and soft ground with
imprint of fabric; printed in brown ink on copperplate paper. Dimensions: plate mark
29.7 x 31.8 cm, sheet 40 x 45.5 cm. Signatures: signed by Käthe Kollwitz in the
lower right and inscribed in the lower right of sheet "Druck von unverstählter
Platte"; Felsing's signature in lower left. Printer: Otto Felsing. State: Knesebeck
state IIIc annotated by the artist as before steelfacing, with the lampshade and its
reflection upon the wall for the most part without tone; Klipstein state IIIb.
Edition: Richter edition, 1918, 5/50. Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms collection,
Los Angeles. Recto: pencil marking in the lower left of sheet. Verso: collector's
wet stamp "RSA" within circle. Lugt: 4396.

Part of: rejected second version of the third sheet of the cycle
Peasants' War [
Bauernkrieg]. Technique: line etching, drypoint, sandpaper, and soft ground
with the imprint of fabric; printed in black ink on copperplate paper; reworked with
brush and ink, and pencil. Dimensions: trimmed to platemark 37.4 x 23.4 cm.
Signatures: signed by Käthe Kollwitz "unverkäufl" in pencil in lower right. State:
Knesebeck state I, before the application of aquatint and before indication of the
ground upon which the figure stands; Klipstein state I. Provenance: Dr. Richard A.
Simms collection, Los Angeles. Recto: inscribed [by Kollwitz?] in pencil in
Sütterlin in lower left Frau mit Sense I Zustand Platte verworfen; Roman numeral I
inscribed in pencil at left; in lower right corner marked in pencil Roman numeral I
and number 58a. Verso: two collector's wet stamps "RSA" within circle; inscribed in
pencil unverkäuflich K. Kollwitz 29.2.12; K.89; and an illegible marking in pencil.
Lugt: 4396.

Part of: rejected third version of the first sheet of the cycle
Peasants' War [
Bauernkrieg]. Technique: line etching, needle bundle, and soft ground with
imprint of ribbed laid paper and Ziegler's transfer paper; printed in black ink on
copperplate paper; reworked with pencil. Dimensions: plate mark 45.5 x 59.6 cm, cut
on plate mark. Signatures: signed by Käthe Kollwitz in the upper right. State:
Knesebeck state V, reworked with pencil drawings indicating the changes planned for
the 6th state; Klipstein state V. Edition: proof. Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms
collection, Los Angeles; Heinrich Stinnes collection, Cologne [?]. Recto: inscribed
in pencil along the lower margin number 51878, in the lower right corner inscribed
V. Zust, small number 2 marked in pencil in the upper left corner. Verso:
collector's wet stamp "Coll. Dr. Richard A. Simms" within banner, inscribed in
pencil number 51878 and number 604 within circle, another marking in pencil in the
upper margin. Lugt: 4395.

See also: drawing
Ploughmen with Woman Standing in
Foreground
, without Nagel/Timm number in Box 21.

Technique: line etching and aquatint, printed in green ink on ribbed laid paper
without watermark. Dimensions: 12.7 x 7.4 cm, sheet 15.2 x 10.4 cm. Signatures:
signed by Käthe Kollwitz in pencil in lower right. State: Knesebeck state IIa, with
aquatint in the sea, the face, and the right wing, and the horizon of the sea
extending horizontally on either side of the youth; Klipstein state II. Edition:
signed proof. Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms collection, Los Angeles. Verso:
collector's wet stamp "RSA" within circle, marked in pencil KL.99 II or III. Lugt:
4396.

Technique: line etching and aquatint, printed in gray-black on ribbed laid paper
without watermark. Dimensions: 12.7 x 7.4 cm, sheet 15 x 10 cm. Signatures: signed
by Käthe Kollwitz in pencil in lower right. State: Knesebeck state IIb, with
aquatint in the sea, the face, and the right wing, and the horizon of the sea
extending horizontally on either side of the youth; Klipstein state II. Edition:
signed proof. Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms collection, Los Angeles. Verso:
collector's wet stamp "RSA" within circle. Lugt: 4396.

151.I (Knesebeck); 128 (Klipstein)
The Widow I [
Die
Witwe I
] and overlay sheet
at latest May 1920

Physical Description:
3
prints

Scope and Content Note

Part of: rejected second version (?) of the fourth sheet of the series
War [
Krieg]. Technique:
crayon lithograph drawn directly on the stone; printed on machine-made paper.
Dimensions: sheet 50 x 43.3 cm. Signatures: unsigned. State: Knesebeck state I, with
the figure shown seated with her hands in her lap; only state known to Klipstein.
Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms collection, Los Angeles. Recto: printed horizontal
black non-continuous line at 2/3 of the height of the image. Verso: collector's wet
stamp "RSA" within circle. Lugt: 4396. Related work: overlay sheet (44.8 x 42.9 cm)
with a crayon lithograph on recto and verso drawn directly on the stone, printed on
machine-made paper, the recto slightly reworked by hand with blue crayon; the recto
depicting the figure from the chest downwards, with hanging arms (see Knesebeck
151.II); the verso depicting the reverse image of the first state (see Knesebeck
151.I), with the figure shown from the chest downwards; recto inscribed in pencil
along the left and lower margins 2 Zustand!, Zeichnung (Original)/Litographi[?]
Käthe Kollwitz, Orig Zeichnung mit lithogr Kreide v K Kollwitz aus dem Besitz von
Frl St?; on verso collector's wet stamp "RSA" within circle and number 2414
inscribed in pencil.

See also: 165.I verso (Knesebeck) in Box 11.

box 18

152.a (Knesebeck); 160.a (Klipstein)
The Widow I [
Die
Witwe I
],
at latest May 1920

Part of: sheet 6 of the series
War [
Krieg]. Technique: woodcut; printed in black ink on thick,
soft, rough Japan paper. Dimensions: image 35.2 x 40 cm, sheet 35.6 x 43.5 cm.
Signatures: signed by Käthe Kollwitz in pencil in upper right corner of sheet.
State: Knesebeck state II, Klipstein state II. Provenance: Dr. Richard A. Simms
collection, Los Angeles. Recto: inscribed in pencil 2. Zust. in the lower right
corner of sheet; number 41 inscribed in the upper left corner of sheet; number 162
inscribed in pencil in the lower left corner of sheet. Verso: collector's wet stamp
"RSA" within circle; 51 Bl.a inscribed in pencil in the lower left corner of sheet;
Die Mütter S. W. 182/II and number 103003018 inscribed in pencil along the lower
margin; number 17648 inscribed in pencil. Lugt: 4396.

Technique: crayon and brush transfer lithograph; printed in black ink on chamois
paper mounted on another paper. Dimensions: image 80.5 x 87 cm, sheet 84.9 x 89.7
cm. Signatures: signed nad dated "Käthe Kollwitz/1930" in upper right; signed in
stone "Kollwitz' in lower left. State: proofs from the upper half of the poster, the
composition only without any text, which cannot be assigned to state I or II in
Knesebeck; state reproduced by Klipstein cannot be verified. Provenance: Dr. Richard
A. Simms collection, Los Angeles. Note: poster for the film
Mother Krausen's Trip to Happiness [
Mutter
Krausen's Fahrt ins Glück
] made under the patronage of Käthe Kollwitz and
Hans Baluschek, and with the technical support of the painter Otto Nagel; the film
was directed by Piel Jutzi and premiered on December 30, 1929.

Present are forty-nine drawings dating from 1888 to 1928. Thirty-two drawings are
documented in the first and second editions of Otto Nagel's and Werner Timm's
catalogue raisonné of drawings by Käthe Kollwitz; seventeen drawings are not
documented in the catalogue raisonné and are listed at the end. Most drawings are from
the late 1890s and early 1900s, from 1919, and the early 1920s.

Predominantly present is Kollwitz's preparatory work for prints included with the
collection, such as the drawing
Woman and a Laid Out
Corpse
(
Frau und aufgebahrter Toter) from
1896, which is a study for the middle part of the print
From
Many Wounds You Bleed, O People
(
Aus vielen Wunden
blutest du, o Volk
). The drawing
Dancing
Woman
(
Tanzende Frau) is a study of a dancing
figure from the print
The Carmagnole (
Die Carmagnole). The drawing
The
Black Anna
(
Die schwarze Anna) is a study for
the expressive female figure seen from behind in the print
Charge (
Losbruch) from the series
A Weavers' Revolt (
Ein
Weberaufstand
). The drawings
Woman with
Scythe
(
Frau mit Sense) and
Study of a Drooping Arm (
Herabhängende Hand) are studies for an early version of sheet 3 from the
series
Peasants' War (
Bauernkrieg). Four of the drawings which are not in the catalogue raisonné
by Nagel und Timm are also studies for various sheets from the series
Peasants' War.

There is a study for Kollwitz's early print
Scene from
Germinal
(
Szene aus Germinal).

Also included with the collection, are three drawings from 1919, which are studies
for the print depicting the mourning of the assassinated German communist Karl
Liebknecht, from the same year.

Not a sketch or study, but rather a finished work is a drawing related to Kollwitz's
famous print
Woman with Dead Child (
Frau mit totem Kind) from 1903. Another drawing seemingly
not intended for a print is a rare color pastel drawing from approximately 1904,
executed most likely at the time of Kollwitz's second visit to Paris.

The titles in German are from the catalogue raisonné
Käthe
Kollwitz, die Handzeichnungen
, 2nd ed. 1980, by Otto Nagel and Werner Timm.
The English titles are supplied by the cataloger.

Arrangement

The drawings are arranged by the number of the catalogue raisonné
Käthe Kollwitz, die Handzeichnungen, 2nd ed. 1980, by Otto
Nagel and Werner Timm. Drawings, which are not included in the catalogue raisonné are
listed chronologically at the end.

1108a (Nagel/Timm)
Recto:
Visit in a Hospital [
Besuch im Krankenhaus]; Verso: drawings for the title page
of the book
Meine Erlebnisse unter Strafgefangenen by
Lenka von Koerber,
between 1926 and 1928

Listed below are fifteen drawings from the collection of Dr. Richard A. Simms,
which are not included in the first and second editions of the catalogue raisonné
Käthe Kollwitz, die Handzeichnungen, 2nd ed. 1980,
by Otto Nagel and Werner Timm.

The four portfolios include foremost the so-called Richter-Mappe from 1920. The large
velour-bound and gilt portfolio is part of Ausgabe A and contains facsimile
reproductions in lithography of twenty-four drawings selected for this publication by
Käthe Kollwitz herself. The scholarly community views Kollwitz's selection for the
Richter-Mappe indicative of the artist's opinion about her artworks.

The series includes seventeen exhibition posters dating from 1967 to 1993. Most
posters are of exhibitions held in Germany at the Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Cologne and
at various locations in Berlin. Also present are posters of Kollwitz exhibitions held
in Switzerland: in Zurich (Galerie Daniel Keel, in 1972) and in Tereno [Locarno]
(Galleria Matasci, in 1993). Posters from R.E. Lewis in San Francisco, the Stanford
University Museum of Art, the Grossmont College Art Gallery in El Cajon, and the
University Art Galleries in Riverside document Kollwitz exhibitions in California.

Included are seven facsimile reproductions of drawings and prints from the collection
of the Käthe Kollwitz Sammlung der Kreissparkasse Köln.

Filed as printed matter are two illustrated covers of the magazine
Jewish Community Press, from 1938; ephemeral matter issued
by the Käthe Kollwitz Sammlung der Kreissparkasse Köln; and a 1990 calendar issued by
the Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin.

The photographs are four portraits of Käthe Kollwitz, including one by Hugo Erfurth,
one by Lotte Jacobi, and two possibly by Alma Lápere. All four are vintage gelatin
silver prints.

Present are thirty letters and postcards sent by Käthe Kollwitz to various recipients
between 1898 and 1943. The lettters range from personal notes to friends to more
formal responses to collectors asking to acquire her artwork. Six letters to the art
historian Johannes Sievers allow glipses into Kollwitz's involvement in the process of
writing the catalogie raisonné of her graphic works. In a letter from 1908 to an
unidentified recipient Kollwitz assigns titles to various sheets from the cycle
Peasants' War [
Bauernkrieg].

Preserved with the letters are transcripts, English translations, or clippings from
sales catalogs related to the letters, as originally included by the collector.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.

box 78, folder 1

Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung1909 March 30

Physical Description:
5
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to the editor of
Berliner Illustrierte
Zeitung
. Kollwitz criticizes the artistic quality of illustrations in the
Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung in comparison with
those in the magazine
Simplicissimus. Letter, two
transcripts, a note, and printed matter.

Kollwitz responds to an invitation to a social engagement. Letter, two envelopes,
and transcript with English translation.

box 78, folder 4

1932 February 16

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Kollwitz responds to an invitation to a social engagement. Letter, transcript,
and English translation.

Diepolder, Dr. 1943

Physical Description:
3
items

box 78, folder 5

1943 Juli 11

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

Personal letter to Dr. Diepolder in Gräfelfing near Munich. Letter and
envelope.

box 78, folder 6

1943 December 26

Physical Description:
1
item

Scope and Content Note

Personal postcard.

box 78, folder 7

Dörfler, Frikomar 1922 December 31 and undated

Physical Description:
5
items

Scope and Content Note

A postcard and an undated letter to the collector Frikomar Dörfler in
Kötschenbroda. Kollwitz mentions the print
Wärmehallen [
Heated Shelter] and the
cycle
Krieg [
War].
Postcard, letter, transcript and translation.

box 78, folder 8

Dorulse [?], 1923 November 10

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to a collector regarding selling a sheet from the cycle
Krieg [
War]. Letter with
transcript and English translation.

box 78, folder 9

Herberger, Marra1921 April 30

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

Personal letter. Postcard with trascript and English translation.

box 78, folder 10

Huch, Marie1907 March 11

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Postcard to the mother of the German author Friedrich Huch (1873-1913). With
transcript and typed excerpt from Kollwitz diaries.

box 78, folder 11

Jungnickel, Max1918 November 8

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

A thank-you note to the author Max Jungnickel for sending a copy of his book
Die Mütter.

box 78, folder 12

Kaemmerer, Ludwig1923 November 19

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to the author of the book
Kaethe Kollwitz
Griffelkunst und Weltanschauung
. Kollwitz comments on the theme of
motherhood in her art and writes about her occupation with the theme of hunger as a
response to famin in post World War I Germany. She also mentions the cycle
Krieg [
War]. Letter with
English translation.

box 78, folder 13

Kern, Helga1927 Dezember 20

Physical Description:
1
item

Scope and Content Note

Letter to the editor of the publication
Führende Frauen
Europas
. One letter, typescript, carbon copy.

box 78, folder 14

Müller,1925 Juni 17

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to an art teacher looking for examples of Kollwitz's artworks to show to her
female students. Kollwitz streses the importance of artistic perfection and
recommends specific artworks as examples of her ouvre. Letter (2 leaves),
transcript, and English translation.

box 78, folder 15

Siegmund-Schultze, Friedrich 1920 April 24 and October 15

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Two postcards and transcript. Kollwitz responds to the offer to accept a teaching
position at the Art Academy in Berlin.

box 78, folder 16

Sievers, Herma1916 June 20

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Personal letter to the wife of the art historian Johannes Sievers. Letter,
envelope, and English translation.

Sievers, Johannesca. 1910-1918

Physical Description:
14
items

box 78, folder 17

ca. 1910

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

A card to the art historian Johannes Sievers concernng the cycle
Peasants' War [
Bauernkrieg]. Card, printed matter with transcript, and English
translation.

box 78, folder 18

1911 May 4

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to the art historian Johannes Sievers regarding his work on Kollwitz's
catalogue raisonné. With a mention of Emil Richter. Card (2 items) and
translations.

box 78, folder 19

1916 July 2

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to the art historian Johannes Sievers. Kollwitz confirms sending to
Sievers various impressions of a lithograph. Letter and English translation.

box 78, folder 20

1917 July 26

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Personal feldpost letter to the art historian Johannes Sievers during his
military deployment. Letter, envelope, and English translation.

box 78, folder 21

[1918] May 23

Physical Description:
2
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to the art historian Johannes Sievers. Kollwitz writes about her election
to the Art Academy in Berlin. Letter and English translation.

Letter to an unidentified receipient addressed as Herr Professor. The letter
concerns the cycle
Peasants' War [
Bauernkrieg]. Kollwitz proposes the title for the cycle
and assigns titles to the individual sheets. Letter and English translation.

box 78, folder 27

Junger Mann1927 December 23

Physical Description:
3
items

Scope and Content Note

Letter to an aspiring young artist. Letter, photocopy, and English
translation.